Twenty years ago, on December 6, 1996, Ukraine’s Parliament passed a resolution in response to the Russian Federation Council’s resolution that questioned the status of the city of Sevastopol in Crimea. The Verkhovna Rada also voted 227-38 with 11 abstentions to introduce a bill on the removal of foreign troops from Ukrainian soil (except those invited by the government of Ukraine).
The Russian Federation Council’s statement noted “unilateral actions by the Ukrainian side aimed at severing from Russia a part of her territory are not only illegal from any viewpoint of international law, but are detrimental to Russia’s security.” Russia had refused to officially recognize Ukraine’s borders and respect its territorial integrity until Ukraine had granted Russia permanent basing rights in Sevastopol. Russia had also tied the division of the Black Sea Fleet to basing rights in Crimea.
In the weeks prior to the standoff, Russia’s Duma had been concerned about the future basing of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol. The Duma also passed preliminary resolutions that would have brought the city of Sevastopol under the budgetary responsibility of the Duma, and officially declared it a Russian city, as well as a resolution that talks on the Black Sea Fleet’s division should be halted.
Russia’s claims to Sevastopol were supported by Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. Ukraine’s Parliament voted to declare that the Federation Council vote was “a claim on the territorial integrity of Ukraine” and that “the status of Sevatsopol cannot be changed; it has been and remains Ukrainian territory.”
Other branches of the Ukrainian government expressed their resolve to not discuss the status of the city of Sevastopol. “Ukraine’s territorial integrity has been recognized by all nations, and none – except for certain political circles in Russia – calls it into question,” said Ukraine Foreign Affairs spokesperson Yurii Sergeyev. Ukraine, he added, is focused on continuing discussions aimed at a Ukraine-Russia treaty of friendship and cooperation.
In 2015, Russia announced that it had taken the decision to completely halt its participation in the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, citing the permanent NATO bases staffed by U.S. personnel in Bulgaria and Romania as a violation. President Vladimir Putin had begun Russia’s suspension of the treaty in 2007. Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, Russia has stationed more than 30,000 troops on the peninsula. It remains an occupying power in Transdniestria, a self-proclaimed Russian “republic” (since 1992), and the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia (since 2008).
Source: “Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada takes action against Russian claims to Sevastopol,” by Roman Woronowycz, The Ukrainian Weekly, December 15, 1996.